Thank you. I'm definitely less concerned about QB talent than I am about Bloesch being the right person, with the right duties. I think it's hard for an OL coach to not see things as run first. It's what the big boys want. But run first doesn't cut it unless you are triple option or some gimmick with great talent. The bowl game I traveled to see was a huge disappointment and I can't help but worry about what that means. Does Bloesch fail to inspire confidence? Does he fail to inspire effort? Does he fail to call the right plays? We failed in the bowl game, and now we have loads of questions.
The bowl game sucked. But the situation sucked, too. As Bloesch admitted on a recent podcast, they didn't have time to install anything new or change any calls, so they ran a simple version of Spav's existing playbook. At the same time, practice was interrupted by students taking finals, coaches squeezing in recruiting trips (the game was two days before early signing day), and not everyone was available.
The offense is still a question mark, but it's reasonable to expect more coherent performances after an off-season of learning the new playbook and verbiage and the guys playing together.
People knock "game manager" QBs but Nando gave us consistency when we most needed it. His ceiling may be as an average college QB or he may develop into a superior one.
Competition with Chandler Rogers will be legit and I think Nando is the type of guy who gets motivated by it. Hoping it produces some nice results regardless of who the ultimate starter is.
I really like Mendoza. But, I’m not sure Nando will be the starter, given Chandler Rogers threw for 29 TD’s and only 5 interceptions for North Texas, and received what I believe to be six figures in NIL $$$ (the “NIL valuation” website that placed price tag estimates on the available transfers at the time estimated Chandler’s value at over $300,000) to come out west. He may battle for the top job, at the least, is all IMO. Interesting to note that In this video (recorded leading up to his 2023 season with UNT) podcast, at 24:15 he talks about why he didn’t select Cal (it seems like cost of living was prohibitive in the Bay Area for Rogers. Then, of course, we know Cal instead ended up with Jackson). Cost of living, basically, is an issue that will challenge Cal’s attempts to keep pace with other teams’ NIL offers. This time around though, I’m sure the NIL offer was way better, considering Chandler’s excellent 2023 season/stats. The guy really knows his X’s and O’s too: he gets into it at 20:40 in the video (don’t worry, at the beginning of the video you can click “skip” to pass through the adds): https://youtu.be/24VaKRcVYAY?si=LP580XdqV79TVNWd
Still, I like conclusions based upon statistics and probability to inform future improvements, which there is plenty of room for. We're on a short fuse to build a brand and become a more marketable team. We can't do that with middling results. We just barely missed being relegated, this time, but without dramatic improvement, we're circling back to the same iceberg that sank the P12.
Thank you. I'm definitely less concerned about QB talent than I am about Bloesch being the right person, with the right duties. I think it's hard for an OL coach to not see things as run first. It's what the big boys want. But run first doesn't cut it unless you are triple option or some gimmick with great talent. The bowl game I traveled to see was a huge disappointment and I can't help but worry about what that means. Does Bloesch fail to inspire confidence? Does he fail to inspire effort? Does he fail to call the right plays? We failed in the bowl game, and now we have loads of questions.
The bowl game sucked. But the situation sucked, too. As Bloesch admitted on a recent podcast, they didn't have time to install anything new or change any calls, so they ran a simple version of Spav's existing playbook. At the same time, practice was interrupted by students taking finals, coaches squeezing in recruiting trips (the game was two days before early signing day), and not everyone was available.
The offense is still a question mark, but it's reasonable to expect more coherent performances after an off-season of learning the new playbook and verbiage and the guys playing together.
That is certainly the hope. May it be true!
People knock "game manager" QBs but Nando gave us consistency when we most needed it. His ceiling may be as an average college QB or he may develop into a superior one.
Competition with Chandler Rogers will be legit and I think Nando is the type of guy who gets motivated by it. Hoping it produces some nice results regardless of who the ultimate starter is.
I really like Mendoza. But, I’m not sure Nando will be the starter, given Chandler Rogers threw for 29 TD’s and only 5 interceptions for North Texas, and received what I believe to be six figures in NIL $$$ (the “NIL valuation” website that placed price tag estimates on the available transfers at the time estimated Chandler’s value at over $300,000) to come out west. He may battle for the top job, at the least, is all IMO. Interesting to note that In this video (recorded leading up to his 2023 season with UNT) podcast, at 24:15 he talks about why he didn’t select Cal (it seems like cost of living was prohibitive in the Bay Area for Rogers. Then, of course, we know Cal instead ended up with Jackson). Cost of living, basically, is an issue that will challenge Cal’s attempts to keep pace with other teams’ NIL offers. This time around though, I’m sure the NIL offer was way better, considering Chandler’s excellent 2023 season/stats. The guy really knows his X’s and O’s too: he gets into it at 20:40 in the video (don’t worry, at the beginning of the video you can click “skip” to pass through the adds): https://youtu.be/24VaKRcVYAY?si=LP580XdqV79TVNWd
Yeah, CR 's gonna' be a challenge for Nando.
Nando does have a gifted leadership quality and toughness, for what he lacks as a scrambler.
The biggest question is how the offense will look without Spavital calling and designing the plays. Football gods, pray for us.
I’m a Mendoza fan. The offense looked much better with him at QB. Go Bears!
Still, I like conclusions based upon statistics and probability to inform future improvements, which there is plenty of room for. We're on a short fuse to build a brand and become a more marketable team. We can't do that with middling results. We just barely missed being relegated, this time, but without dramatic improvement, we're circling back to the same iceberg that sank the P12.
Thanks, Piotr.